Dalia Mikonyté and Adomas Žudys
Curated by Ramiro Camelo
9.5 – 1.6.2025
Opening/Avajaiset 8.5.2025 18:00 – 20:00

Myymälä2 is pleased to present “Domestic Astronomy” by Vilnius-based artists Dalia Mikonytė and Adomas Žudys. The exhibition point of departure is the first photo/visualisation of a black hole created in 2019. As a result, the image of the black hole became an extraordinary visual analogy of a boundless universe.

The pair is aware that the strange phenomena that occur in space force us to have a deeper understanding of basic conceptions of time, information, causality, necessity, contingency, and determinism.  With the exhibition “Domestic Astronomy” artists open up about their cosmologies by analyzing and interpreting the alluring phenomenon of the visuality of space using analogue photography, photo collage, point cloud aesthetics, photogrammetry and other 3D techniques.

The artists seek to seamlessly blend notions of celestial mechanics with sensory experience. It’s not solely about referring to abstract concepts but also about embodying and feeling them.  With remarkable skillfulness Mikonytė and Žudys manipulate everyday environments to turn them into unrecognizable playful astronomical objects. They dematerialize everyday familiar objects by modifying, interpreting and gamifying them.

The exhibition installation consists of photographic collages with video projections. Home textiles and appliances, household utensils, plants and light sources are silent, crumbling, separating and connecting. Arrangements of books, vinyl records, past works and future plans rotate around their axis and turn over our heads. Depth becomes an inverted height, and every black surface is scratched by the expectation of whiteness.

“Domestic astronomy” offers a variety of familiar and strange scenarios for viewers to interact with. The exhibition accomplishes an intriguing Mise en scène between a cosmic body and the twofold artists’ inquisitive experience of the world and how it intertwines with the exhibition space.

The installation is accompanied by texts created by Lina Simutytė and a soundscape by Marija Jociūtė.

• A live sound act by Marija Jociūtė will take place during the opening of the exhibition.

The co-authors of the project are artist and composer Marija Jociūtė and writer Lina Simutytė. The texts and soundtrack of “Domestic Astronomy” indirectly refer to the abstract interaction of a black hole, darkness and everyday life, offering rich compositional interpretations of it.

The exhibition, curated by Ramiro Camelo, is part of Myymälä 2 Baltic Fellowship Network, which promotes collaboration, kinship, and artistic exchanges between Finland and the Baltic countries.

The exhibition is supported by The Lithuanian Council for Culture.

Artists Dalia Mikonytė and Adomas Žudys will lead a free workshop “Photogrammetry in Artistic Practice” on Thursday 15th May 15:00.

More information on the workshop via this link, or through the sign-up form.

Artists bios:

Dalia Mikonytė (b. 1986) is a photographer and researcher, a member of artists group Coolturistes, Lithuanian Photographers and Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Associations. She is mostly researching forms and structures of sentiments, memory and archiving. She materializes her ideas working with photography, video, 3D media and physical artifacts. Her work addresses questions and variations of perception and recognition, themes centered around the relationship between materiality, technology and identity. In 2020 her exhibition “bust” on the topic of cancer was followed with the book. In her previous project “Analogophilia” (2015), she speaks abstractly about concrete and personal situations. “Playing signs” (2015) is about identity of the XXI century artist and has a strong historical precedence, “Own/other: caustics” (2017- 2018) is a technological materialization of light sculptures and footprints they burnt on silver paper. Dalia was resident in Nida Art Colony (Lithuania, 2016) and A.I.R. Blekinge (Sweden, 2018). She was granted with District-Berlin Studio grant (2015) and individual scholarship from L’Institut français de Lituanie (2019). Portfolio online: http://www.daliamikonyte.lt

Adomas Žudys (b. 1988) is currently DA (Doctorate of Arts) candidate at Vilnius Academy of Arts. Adomas main interests are crisis of imagination and conspiracy theories. Adomas Žudys is an artist working at the intersection of digital and physical artifacts. The artistic practice that he is developing focuses on old and well-known art forms collaged together with current technologies and worldviews. His subjects range between intimate space and time, personal and public experiences, identity and its representation, signs, magic, virtual and actual reality. Artist and researcher actively participates in exhibitions and events dedicated to interdisciplinary art in Lithuania and abroad. In 2017, the author was granted the status of art creator by the Republic of Lithuania. Portfolio online: http://www.zudys.lt

Marija Jociūtė is a Lithuanian artist and composer living in Vienna. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Photography and Media Art / Interdisciplinary Arts from the Academy of Arts in Vilnius. Since 2023 she has been studying electroacoustic and experimental music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In addition to developing her practice as an artist and composer, she also collaborates with choreographers and filmmakers. Jociūtė’s compositions are situated at the interface between sound and art and explore the structural possibilities of electronic composition. She generates soundscapes that enter into dialogue with movements and visual narratives through the interweaving of synthesizers, rhythmic impulses, digital manipulation, found footage and vocal elements.

Lina Simutytė (b. 1990) finished studies in cinema dramaturgy at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She began publishing her prose works in periodical cultural magazines and started working as a freelance screenwriter, playwright, and copywriter in 2013. Her debut book of short stories “Miesto šventė” (Town Festival) was published in 2020 and won the Jurga Ivanauskaitė prize for free, open and bold creative expression, also won the Young Artist Award of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. Her texts emphasize the links with cosmopolitan civilization, its diversity and abundance. As Author she works in the field of social communication and creative writing and is developing her own literary project Blunkanti sofa (“Fading sofa”), investigating anxiety in the works of young artists and their personal experiences during interviews and performances. Her works are published in many cultural magazines, including literary magazines “Vilnius Review” and “No More Amber”, presenting writers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania once a year. Simutytė’s texts are translated into English, German, Dutch, Georgian, Polish, Latvian and other languages. Author has received several scholarships of Lithuanian Culture Council, had residencies at BCWT (Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators in Gotland, Sweden), Besiendershuis (Nijmegen, Netherlands), “Scanorama Shortcut” (Iceland), International Writers and Translators house in Ventspils (Latvia), “Verpėjos” (South Lithuania), and Kintai Arts craft center. Lina Simutytė was granted the status of an artist by The Lithuanian Ministry of Culture in 2021.

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